Liposome Technology Inc. stock picked up $1 last week whenOppenheimer & Co. analyst Jeffrey Casdin said LTI has apotential blockbuster drug in its S-Dox (Stealth doxorubicin)to treat cancer patients with solid tumors.

The stock (NASDAQ:LTIZ) closed Friday at $8, down 50 cents,after closing on Sept. 27 at $7.

If S-Dox is successful, LTI and its marketing partners couldcapture half of the potential $1 billion world market forliposomal doxorubicin, Casdin said.

LTI's Stealth technology enables liposomes to elude the body'simmune system and remain in circulation longer thanconventional liposomes. Stealth liposomes are coated withpolyethylene glycol, which attracts water molecules. Thiscamouflages the liposomes from macrophages.

Also last week, LTI said it had entered into a licenseagreement with Becton Dickinson and Co., granting Bectoncertain rights to LTI's technology for preparing liposomes in acontrolled size range for use in the manufacture and sale ofliposome-based in vitro diagnostic products. LTI will receiveroyalties on sales.

Becton of Franklin Lakes, N.J., had been selling products usingLTI's technology, said Nick Arvanitidis, LTI's chairman. "Wewent to them and said they should license our technology, andthey did. They were very nice about it.

"This is not anything big in terms of money, but it validatesour science and technology," Arvanitidis said. "This is a signalfor others who are using our sizing technology." -- KarenBernstein

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